HC declines to stay Dunlop liquidation

The Calcutta High Court, on Monday, declined the prayer for a stay order on liquidation made by the management of ailing tyre company Dunlop India.

It also asked the official liquidator to take possession of the company’s assets.

On January 31, a trial court had passed an order to wind up the company and appoint an official liquidator to take over the assets and the books of accounts. This order came on the back of several appeals filed since 2008 by a clutch of creditors, including SBI Global Factors.

The January order observed that going to a liquidator would be a sort of civil death for the hundred-year-old company. It was also pointed out that the 1,000-odd workers (as on March 2012) at the mother plant here at Sahagunj and at Ambattur in Tamil Nadu had not been paid their salaries for well over a year. The company appealed for a stay before a Division Bench, which asked it to deposit a sum of Rs. 10 crore as proof of its intent to fulfil its obligations.

The management went into a huddle soon after today’s order, but declined to talk to the media, saying that they would do so only after getting a copy of the order.

The state government has been maintaining that it is keen on the company’s revival, even indicating that it is exploring its options on a takeover.